The course is aimed at Java developers who are looking to build apps for devices with wide user bases by leveraging Google App Engine, the company's Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering.

The course is based around a single project in which students are invited to create their own conference organising website in the style of Meetup or Eventbrite. At the end of the course, a final project will see students adding their own added functionality.

Anyone planning to undertake the course is advised to have at least a year's experience in developing web applications in Java, and it is recommended that they use Maven and Eclipse during the course.

According to the course description, students will benefit from working in a more efficient way. "The traditional way of hosting and scaling applications on Virtual Machines in the Cloud comes with a cost - even if the infrastructure is virtual, you still have to manage it - do load balancing, bring instances up and down, take care of patching your software and in general spend a lot of your time and resources on just the infrastructure."

"Building Scalable Apps" costs $150 per month, including feedback and mentoring from Google experts, but the course materials can be accessed free for anyone who chooses to work alone. The free version does not offer an accredited certificate on completion.